Page 23 of Love Like Ours

“It seems like a lot of work.” She turned around and assessed the space. The floors were wood and in need of sanding and staining. The plaster on the walls was cracked and missing chunks in several places. The tile in the entryway and dining room was cracked and some pieces were missing.

“In here is the formal dining room.” He motioned to a short hallway. She followed him into a long narrow room with more boxes in it.

“Is this all your things?” she asked.

“No, there are a lot of historical documents in here. I plan to donate them to the city, but I have looked through a few.” He shrugged. “There are some pretty interesting things in them. I may end up going through them all to see if anything is… worth using.”

“In your stories?” she asked.

He chuckled. “You never know where inspiration might come from.”

“I doubt Pride has that many secrets.” She stepped into another hallway off the dining room.

“Besides the missing diamonds,” he joked.

“Right.” She laughed.

“This leads to the room I’ll use as my office.” He followed her. “It has its own bathroom.”

The space would indeed be perfect as an office. It was large and even had a fireplace. Half of the broken mantel sat on the floor.

“I’m hoping to repair that,” he said. “The entire other side of the building is connected to the lighthouse and only has small windows.” She followed him into a smaller bathroom near the living room and an old set of wood stairs that led up to the second floor of the home.

“How do you get into the lighthouse?” she asked when they reached the landing.

“There’s an outside door on the main floor or…” He smiled and opened a door at the end of the hallway and motioned. “This way.”

She followed him through the door and down a hallway and stepped right into a circular staircase, which led down one floor and up to the top of the lighthouse.

“Wow,” she sighed as she looked up the old iron staircase. It was wider than she’d imagined, and she could see several landings along the way up.

“Go on, head up,” he said behind her.

She gripped the railing and was surprised that there was enough space for two people to walk side by side on the stairs.

“This is so much bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Remember, before they built the house part, this was where someone had to live. The main floor was the kitchen space, the next was living quarters, complete with space for a bed and bathroom. The top is storage for lighthouse equipment,” he said as they reached the first landing.

Sure enough, there was an old cot, a desk area, a sink, toilet, and small shower.

It was as if she’d stepped back in time. Everything was perfectly preserved.

“I think they had hoped to turn this into a museum at one point. They had remodeled this part and preserved as much as they could. I like it. I probably won’t do anything much over here.”

“It’s like looking back in time,” she said as they started up the stairs again.

“Wait until you see the view from up there. I bet that you’ve never seen Pride like this before.”

The moment they stepped off the last stair, she gasped and her heart raced.

“You aren’t afraid of heights, are you?” he joked as she rushed towards the windows.

There, far below them, sat the town she had come to love. Each street. Every house. All of the businesses. They were all laid out for her to see.

She saw cars that she knew driving down streets. A school bus stopped at the corner by the bakery and two kids jumped out. It was too far away to see who they were, but it was probably Carrie and Corey McCall. Their mother, Tina, worked at the bakery, and the kids hung out there after school every day until she got off work.

“I bet it looks amazing during the holidays up here. With all the lights.” She sighed as her breath fogged the glass.